Five opponents of the Senate Republican health-care bill were cited for trespassing Wednesday evening when they refused to leave U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake's Phoenix office after occupying its conference room all day.

A group of activists, many with physical disabilities, hours earlier took over Flake's conference room and office lobby, demanding that the Arizona Republican agree to vote against the controversial pending legislation.

As of midday, about 15 people with signs with messages such as "Don't Kill 22 million + Americans" and "Cuts to Medicaid = Death" were holding a sit-in in the lobby of Flake's Phoenix office at 2200 E. Camelback Road in Phoenix.

The activists had said they intended to stay until they had secured Flake's "no" vote on the bill. A Facebook video shows police entering the conference room as the activists chant, “I’d rather go to jail than to die without Medicaid.”

"Five people were cited for trespassing after they refused to leave the building after closing at 5:00 p.m.," Sgt. Jonathan Howard, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman, wrote in an email to The Arizona Republic.

Another 15 people left the office voluntarily and were not cited, said Flake's Senate spokesman, Jason Samuels.

The Arizona chapter of the national disability-rights group ADAPT organized the protest, but activists from other groups participated, including Progressive Democrats of America and Ability360, which promotes independent living for people with disabilities.

Many of the demonstrators expressed dismay at Flake's absence from the office during the Independence Day workweek in which the Senate is not meeting in Washington, D.C.

"We have information to offer him, but he's not willing to speak to the people who actually will be affected by the health-care bill," said Amina Kruck, a Tempe resident with Ability360.

Another activist said Flake had not responded to her emails, phone calls or in-person visits to his office.

"I just want to know — a simple yes or no would suffice for me — his position," said Demeris Herrera, a Tucson resident with ADAPT who said her eyesight is failing. "That way, it lets me know that this guy has at least heard what I'm saying; he's acknowledged my email. Acknowledgment goes a long way."

Sen. Jeff Flake smiles as the crowd boos and puts up red pieces of paper showing their views on his answer during a town hall at the Mesa Convention Center in Mesa on April 13, 2017.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Flake not yet saying how he will vote

Flake, a first-term senator who faces re-election in 2018, never said how he would have voted on the original version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which was supposed to have come up for a vote late last week but stalled over a lack of GOP support.

The Republicans are aiming to repeal the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed "Obamacare" after former President Barack Obama, and replace it with a new health-care law.

The earlier draft of the BCRA would have rolled back the Medicaid expansion that Arizona and other states participated in under the ACA. The public backlash to the bill, dubbed "Trumpcare" after President Donald Trump, has been fierce.

On Monday, Flake attended the funeral of his father, Dean Flake, in Snowflake and is spending the rest of the week with family in Utah, Samuels said. Flake's father died June 26 at the age of 85.

On Wednesday, Flake provided a written statement to the protesters at his office.

"While I have not yet seen a revised version of the bill I can say my decision will be based on how it balances two principles," Flake said in the statement. "The first is that the legislation needs to ensure that those who currently have coverage do not have the rug pulled out from under them. The second is that the Senate must agree on a solution that is fiscally sustainable. I would like to personally thank you all for coming in and sharing your stories, and I will be sure to keep your comments in mind as I evaluate the bill."

Later in the day, Flake talked to the group via conference call for about 30 minutes, Samuels said.

But his answers did not satisfy the activists.

"(It was) noncommittal, so we're not leaving," Toni Saia of Tucson, one of the ADAPT activists in Flake's conference room, told The Republic in a telephone interview shortly before 6 p.m. "So we'll be here."

Activists discuss their concerns

"The attack on Medicaid is an attack on Disabled Americans and our very lives because, if these cuts go through, there is no question that Disabled Americans will die," ADAPT says in a message on its website.

Late last month, ADAPT activists occupied the office of U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., for 59 hours in order to get him to oppose the bill. Ten activists were arrested, the Denver Post reported.

Many at Flake's office expressed fears that the long-term-care services that allow them to live independently and hold jobs would be eliminated.

Leonard Smith, a Mesa resident who has a spinal-cord injury, has a caretaker who helps him get out of bed in the morning and back in bed in the evening.

"Without that service, I wouldn't be able to work," said Smith, a social worker with Ability360. "Without that service, I wouldn't be integrated into the community. Without that service, I wouldn't be able to pay taxes. And without that service, more than likely, I would be in a nursing home."

Herrera added: "This Medicaid bill affects me, and not just me but my family. I am not able to work like I need to because I need a caretaker because my sight is going bad."

Saia also stressed to The Republic that the health-care debate is a matter of life and death to the disabled community.

"The only option we'll have is a coffin, because all independence will be stripped," she said.

Saia said Flake's staff offered the demonstrators pizza and snacks, but she said what they really wanted was for Flake to pledge to vote no on the legislation.

Nowicki is The Arizona Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter @dannowicki.